Colour Coordinating Corals

Summertime! Coral-time!

There is something about corals looking better in summer: they have this uncomplicated air that goes as light as your summerdress.

Still there's something about summer that gets me into a complicated mode: the ingenious structure of coordinating layering will fall away (like the layers); thus, I colour-coralinate!

 

So let's do the clique-ing...Summer also means more cliques in groups of friends, etc. I've been grouping up my corals based on compatibility...It's almost like the tables of a summerwedding:

Group 1: the Flushed Corals

The conversation starter is my precious Jadilla J My Ball Cubical Face blusher in Shinny Peach 2 -> and no, these spelling errors don't come from  Rosé-inspired blogwriting but they are adorable Koreanglish. So why do I have to giggle with 'my ball'? This Cheeky fellow is NOBB [NARS Orgasm but Better]. There is the perfect mixture of peach & pink, but the glitterfest has been left out. (original review here). 

I hope I've nailed the setting by adding Essie Plaza Sweet to this group. It's slightly a deeper pink than Jadilla but they have the glowy gold sparkle into them.

An eye for detail, MeowCosmetics is a mineral makeup company who're easy to sample: Paddle Pink absolutely matches. I hope it won't be too boring with so much compatibility!

Group 2: the Everything's Peachy's

 I want to keep it dusky by starting with MeowCosmetics Clawset Case: it's the mysterious one...Essie Anniversary Gala is the equivalent of the bubbly girl: She is perfect on her own but will add a sparkle to another. My latest rediscovery has been Lunasol Creamy cheeks in ex 4 Tender Pink Glow. It's like a cheekbone filler & glow-i-fying peel in a bottle, with the right hint of tender pink (review here).

Group 3: Dusky Corals

I like to think of this group as the mature ones: but not the mature in the Ikea-kind-of-way...These ones have travelled the world and had a couple of drinks too many. They are a sultry bunch and prefer to spend their money on another holiday than botox...They have stories to tell.

 

I love the way they look, but I like to have a special mention towards Julie Hewett's Thandi lipstick.  It's named after Thandi Newton and has a similar subdued beauty & intelligence over it: the right amount of coral without getting too ditzy & a good amount of burning terracotta without venturing on the middle age territory. The Radiance blush is a highlighter, but I love this one when lips and nails get more sultry

4. The Young-n-Beautiful Sheers

I have Lana Del Rey in mind...the young & beautiful crowd. Untarnished, hopeful and sheer.

Group 5: The Happy Oranges

There's something comic about orange. Perhaps not for the ones who watch 'Orange is the new Black' or my fellow comrades from Holland who saw the championship Soccer gone right through their fingers...awwww. Burberry Lipglow in Coral 22 is a colour I got last year (see here) and it returned for summer again. The Bourjois is older...no idea how old. But it makes a perfect match for Burberry. As for Tongue in Cheek, how to resist such a name and such a rusty glow to fake flaunt a bit of sunburn on a summer night?

And to conclude, these two resisted the cliques and made their own little togetherness:

Coral pants gets the girls on the fence

Cuteee!

Between greys

I'd like to show some more colours of that meowcosmetic haul I did lately.

meowcosmetcs greys & a postcard with Brigitte Bardot (l) & Jane Birkin (r)

And yes, I could have made a reference to the 5 shades of grey but I won't.

The swatches:  I love how these greys each have their own dimension and duo-toned hue.

1.  Ghost Stories Present: a whitish grey with a pink overcast
2. Holiday Wishes Holiday Spirits: a creamy taupe with rosegold glow
3. Midnight Clear Ancient Splendor: A mid grey with turquoise glimmer
4. Midnight Clear Song of Old: A true grey with pink flecks
5. Winter Spirits Sparkling: A steel grey with multicoloured sparkles

Celebrities and ageing:

I really love the iconic celebrities of the 1950s/60s and 70s. Moreover, I also like to look how each ages differently and what their lifestyle has to to with it.

Brigitte Bardot (the blonder one) has been tanning and smoking heavily through her life. I still like that she does her glamourous thing with the smokey eyes, bouffant hair and pouty lips that made her famous.

Brigitte Bardot: late 20s & mid 60s

Or a beauty like Jane Birkin. She also is 65 and I really admire she is not facelifted, but her neck still looks quite fresh and not-too-wrinkly for her age. Also, she hardly has any wrinkles around her mouth...

I admire both women and the lifestyle choices that they have made. Brigitte Bardot could have ended like Marilyn Monroe as she also attempted suicide in her life, but she made a complete lifestyle switch from Famous & Fabulous to Secluded & Sheltered.
As for Jane Birkin, her daughters have stepped into her mother's fabulosity and are really famous and iconic too (Lou Doullon). And having one of the most iconic bags named after you always helps. I think happiness shows too...I love Jane's smile and genuine glow.

So how do you think about ageing?

Mineralize Me

"Puuurty mineral colours" 

A couple of years ago I experimented a lot with mineral makeup and ordered heaps and heaps from their etailers.  I still have loads I have sampled quite orderly (colourwise) in maps and toolboxes, but I really wanted to order some again.

Meowcosmetics has always been a favourite of me as they make one of the better bronzers I have come across (Sunsplashers).

Meowcosmetics Sunsplasher

I ordered a small jar of that one again and sampled some of their "End of Days" collection...That was limited edition: either the world would end or the collection would stop...we all know it's been the last one.

 Some greens of the various Christmas lines:

And some purples with some blushes from the Sugarplum collection:

(I will swatch them soon)

Phyrra has some awesome swatches (here) and is quite specialised in mineral makeup and I've seen DrivellerKate experimenting with Fyrinae mineral makeup and liking it (here).

Mineral makeup eyeshadows can be quite stunning and often samples are quite cheap, eg Meowcosmetic being $1, which makes it fun to experiment. I am unbiased when it comes to mineral makeup etailers so I'd say to read the specialised blogs on it and ordering some samples yourself to find what you like. 

Slight remark: they are not for the really messy types or, the opposite, the A-type personalities that need really clean sorts of pressed palettes.  

still a little miss shop-a-bit!

After a bit of seriousness, I feel like writing something about the fun stuff in life again. And, most readers will agree, that is a bit of girly shopping time too.
I do not always shop for myself, he he, I am not that narcistic, and buying presents for other people can be fun too.
One of my latest purchases from etsy will be a present for a friend of mine. She enjoys quirky things a lot, just like I do. I purchased this upcycled tshirt necklace, made from old tshirts(!!!) so it is environmentally friendly too, from a seller named etnyk.
This necklace is a bit different from the ones being sold on a more common base (Urban Outfitters, etc) as it has those little velvet beads added to it. Plus, it is called Gypsy so it is a perfect present for my travel-loving friend of mine, who thinks of herself as a modern gypsy.
I also purchased a couple of things on nonpareilleboutique . Nonpareilleboutique has become quite a popular place for Dutch beautygirls to find their NYX (together with Cherryculture.com) and I wondered how their customer service would be. So far, nothing to complain about their service.
One of the things I ordered was the NYX palette in Caviar and Champagne. I was afraid I ordered this too enthousiastically, because one of the most thorough beautybloggers, Pink Sith, found it to be lacking eyeshadow-power (post here).

Even though she is absolutely right that the eyeshadows lack consistency in colour depth and pigment and are somewhat on the sheer side, I still find some of them to be ok for me.

And being superficial...I love the name...Champagne and Caviar!

I also enjoy buying from mineral cosmetic companies every now and then, even though I downsized buying from them. Mineral foundations are still one of the most suitable for oversensitive skin, which mine oftenly is.

Often they also have good offers on samples of eyeshadows and blushes, which is ideally for the colour-addictive buyers like I can be. I can try a couple of newer colours, for example, experience with the returning 80s look, without breaking the bank on expensive eyeshadows

Meowcosmetics.com had a wonderful discount on labor day with the code catshatework. I am not a cat, but I am not a workaholic either ;P. Their latest release of Taboo blush colours looked so workable (no pun intended) that I ordered most of the samples. I also picked some brighter eyeshadow colours from the Rainforest collection.

The names of the Taboo range are, of course, taboo inspired. Expect names like Dirty Talk, Nudity, Scandal, Fetish, Lust, Racy and Promiscuous....oh la la.

Besides of the provocative names, the colours look very promising and wearable in real life as well. Not scandalous at all . ;D

The Rainforest eyeshadows have rainforest-inspired names, such as piranha, boa, touchan, and poison dart frog. I picked a couple of neutral shades, and a couple of vivid colours for adding a bit of zest to my eyes.

That was a part of my shop-a-bit...I hope everyone will have a splendid weekend.